TORONTO — Richard Lewis has finessed Mordecai Richler’s autobiographical novel, Barney’s Version, into a richly satisfying movie featuring outrageous characters, racy situations and crackling dialogue. (VIDEO)
Dustin Hoffman, right, and Paul Gamatti in Barney’s Version
Screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and opening here on Dec. 24, this 132-minute picture is broadly faithful to the late Richler’s comic sensibilities.
Spanning more than three decades and set in Montreal, Rome and New York, it revolves around the larger-than-life Barney Panofsy (Paul Giamatti), a philandering, cigar-smoking, whisky-swilling Montreal Jewish television producer who ruefully looks back at his checkered past.
The first scene, which unfolds in Montreal toward the end of his somewhat dissolute life, pretty much sets the tone. Pining for his third wife, Miriam, Panofsky, now in his mid-60s, calls her in the middle of the night through an alcohol-induced haze.
The timing of his call speaks volumes about his judgment. After Miriam’s husband tells him to go fly a kite, Barney threatens to disseminate nude photographs of his beloved. That’s what kind of a guy he is – rude, crude and vulgar.
After this coarse but lively sequence, Barney’s Version flashes back to Rome, circa 1974, where Barney is holding court in a café.
Clara (Rachelle Lefevre), his red-headed first wife, is a handful. Pregnant with someone else’s child, she is in a state of denial concerning her supposed Jewish background.
The film gathers momentum as it shifts to Montreal, a year down the road. Barney, now a producer for Totally Unnecessary Productions, a purveyor of pure, unadulterated shlock, is talking with his father, Israel (Dustin Hoffman), who claims that his career as a Montreal police detective was sidetracked by antisemitism. The truth is that his inappropriate conduct may have had more to do with his place in the pecking order.
The ensuing scenes focus on Barney’s ill-advised marriage to his second wife, Mrs. P (Minnie Driver), a pampered, brassy Jewish princess who boasts ad nauseum about her McGill University MA degree.
At Barney’s raucous wedding, during which Israel shocks the wife of a local rabbi with an obscene joke, his eye wanders yet again, first to an NHL hockey game on TV and then to a gorgeous-looking guest who turns out to be Miriam (Rosamund Pike).
Unabashedly smitten by Miriam, a creature with a shapely figure, silken hair, alabaster skin and luminous eyes, Barney makes a concerted play for her. For the first time in his life, he is truly and seriously in love.
“Run away with me,” he says, glaringly oblivious to the fact that he has just gotten married.
Not unexpectedly, Barney’s marriage to Mrs. P goes from bad to worse. Israel, offering “paternal wisdom” to his wayward son, fully comprehends Barney’s marital woes: “You want to screw, she wants to talk.”
Haven’t we heard this before?
Thanks in part to Michael Konyves’ adept script, Barney’s Version is a vivid fun fest.
In cameo appearances, the Canadian movie directors Denys Arcand and David Cronenberg respectively portray a waiter and a director.
Robert Lantos, the producer of Barney’s Version, also shows up in a cameo role. Evidently, he cannot resist the temptation to step into the film, which is easily one of his best.
Barney’s Version, roaring with wit and overflowing with chutzpah, is entertaining from start to finish.
Richler, one suspects, would have approved of it.
